A green approach for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Lithospermum officinale root extract and evaluation of their antioxidant activity

Recently, the synthesis of silver nanoparticles has become an important subject in the bionanotechnology field. Many different chemical and physical methods could be used for silver nanoparticles synthesis, but they are limited due to the usage of toxic chemicals and the production of dangerous by-products. However, the usage of plant extract for silver nanoparticles synthesis is a green single-step method without using toxic chemicals. Herein, silver nanoparticles were synthesized using Lithospermum officinale root aqueous extract and their antioxidant activity was evaluated in vitro. The results showed that 1 ml of the extract could reduce 9 ml of silver ions (1 mM) to silver nanoparticles by heating the reaction mixture (60 ºC) for 6 hours at pH 7.0. The synthesized silver nanoparticles were detected by UV–Vis spectroscopy, TEM, FT-IR, DLS, and XRD. The synthesized silver nanoparticles spectrum had a maximum peak at 390nm, and TEM analysis indicated spherical particles, higher stability (zeta potential: -15.3 mV) and an average size of 7 nm. The antioxidant activity of the synthesized silver nanoparticles was 0.07 mg/ml compared to L. officinale root aqueous extract (0.142 mg/ml) which indicated higher antioxidant activity. So, it is concluded that the synthesized silver nanoparticles could be considered a clinical therapeutic potential due to its antioxidant property.